International social media influencers visit Pakistan

LONDON: Eight mega social media influencers have visited Pakistan’s remote area to explore the natural beauty of the South Asian country first-hand through an extensive tour.

The “CPIC Changing Perceptions Pak Tour” was sponsored by CPIC, a real estate development company headquartered in London with projects in Gwadar and other areas of Pakistan, as part of its efforts to show the country to social media influencers who have wide reaching social media following. The CPIC got the international media influencers to team up with local Pakistani social media influencers.

The key media influencers included Brooke Saward from Australia, one of the pioneers in the travel influencer sphere, Alexis Alford from California, USA who at 21 is about to break the world record for the youngest ever female to visit all of the world’s countries, Mike Corey from Canada; Siya Zarrabi, Anushae Khan, Ryan Riel and Alexandrina Cojocaru. 

In February this year, the CPIC took first delegation of social media influencers to Pakistan from UK, Canada, Australia and Germany. That tour attracted around 6 million views across all social media platforms.

Commenting on the initiative, CPIC founding board member Zeeshaan Shah said: “The global perception of Pakistan is unjust and inaccurate - I am looking to change this. When most Western people think of Pakistan they think of bombs and guns, terrorist organisations and donkey carts. I recognised an opportunity in the market – social media influencers with their millions of devoted followers are often more trusted than their mainstream media counterparts. Thus, by bringing these influencers to Pakistan we can turn around the country’s global perception.”

Shah said that tourism is not the reason behind CPIC’s effort. 

“The wider angle is investment. For example, an emerging markets investment fund manager in London with £10 billion under his control would be unlikely to invest in Pakistan but he would certainly consider another South Asian country. That is not because of anything we lack rather it is due to first impressions and therefore he or she would deem it unsafe and not secure. What we are doing at CPIC is changing the global perception of Pakistan and creating a new first impression – which will change the future of our beloved country."

Zeeshan Shah added: “I have realised that for situations like this you must look at the easy wins, the low-hanging fruit that ultimately allows you make the most impact. I truly believe that we can change the face of Pakistan, especially using these social media influencers and within a couple of years change the future of Pakistan for the better.

This is a project derived simply out of passion and the fervent desire to promote Pakistan. This is an opportunity to completely turn around the global perception of Pakistan – CPIC have created a blueprint of how Pakistan’s image can be changed and now it is up to others to follow suit.

The group of social media influencers travelled to Islamabad, Swat, Ayun, Kalash Valleys, Chitral, Gwadar and Karachi.

Previously, the CPIC has run dozens of red London busses – for months long campaigns in Central London – on three occasions under the banners of “Gwadar the Gateway to Emerging Pakistan”, “Prosperous Pakistan” and “Gwadar Asia’s emerging trade capital”.